Stocks are finally showing a willingness to ease up on their bull run, if for no other reasons than to do some much-needed technical consolidation and to digest the latest news. You might say they are pausing to take in the view from these lofty heights—especially the Nasdaq, which hasn’t seen this level since 2000...when it was moving rapidly in the other direction.

Quintuple Witching Economic Indicator Week

If I leave here tomorrow
Would you still remember me?
For I must be traveling on, now
'Cause there's too many places I've got to see
But, if I stayed here with you, girl
Things just couldn't be the same
'Cause I'm as free as a bird now
And this bird you can not change
And this bird you can not change
And this bird you can not change
Lord knows, I can't change

Bye, bye, baby it's been a sweet love
Though this feeling I can't change

“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” -- Marcel Proust

The recent uptrend in the equity market has not only been due to some improved metrics on the domestic economy, but as well, to the vague promise that the euro-zone drama has inched its way towards some sort of resolution of the matter of a default by Greece.

The stock market is behaving extremely well from a technical perspective. And why not? The world seems stable enough to give investors the confidence to maintain a “risk-on” allocation. Sure, there is still plenty to worry about. But more and more, investors are growing bolder. The Dow is at its highest level since 2008 and wants to challenge 13,000. The Nasdaq is at its highest level since 2000.

The stock market has continued its bullish ways—thanks to indications of an improving U.S. economy and diminished concerns about Europe’s economic stability. The S&P 500 finished January up +4.4%, while the “riskier” Nasdaq finished the month up 8.0% and the MSCI Emerging Markets Index gained 7.7%. Yes, investors are boldly embracing the “risk on” trade.